Where in the world does America's day begin?

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT)

Published
7:00 pm EST, Thursday, January 17, 2008

With fellow students and a handful of parents cheering them on, Jack Wells and Scott Thompson gazed into the audience, their faces reflecting nervousness as Pete DeLouis, the school's resource officer and bee moderator, began reading aloud the first of the championship round's three questions.

Annually, thousands of schools across the United States -- some 200 in Connecticut -- participate in the contest that quizzes students between fourth and eighth grade on their social studies skills. The materials used are prepared by the National Geographic Society.

The local winner takes a written test to qualify as one of 100 students at the state championship, which will be held in March at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain.

Two of the past three years, a Schaghticoke student placed in the top 10 at the state competition. The state finalist goes to the national championship. The top prize is a $25,000 college scholarship.

After hearing the first two questions in Thursday's final round, Wells and Thompson seemed undaunted as they wrote their responses, then announced them -- "Vatican City" and "Nepal."

But after the third question -- Which U.S. island territory's motto is "Where America's Day Begins"? -- the boys appeared less confident, and both picked the wrong answer. Jack said Puerto Rico, and Scott said American Samoa. Guam is correct.

That forced a tie-breaker, which took only one question: What is the term for the melted rock under the Earth's surface?

If you guessed lava, you're wrong. The answer is magma.

Scott didn't have to guess. He knew. At that moment, he also knew he'd won the contest and was so stunned his body shuddered.

His mother, Ellen, anxiously listening in the back of the room, was elated.

"I was probably more nervous than he was," she said.

"Right! I don't think so," Scott interjected.

"I'm so proud of him," Thompson said, while her son's hands were still shaking. "He loves geography. He came in not thinking he would win."

Asked if he studied at home, Scott said, "Oh, gosh, for hours."

His mother said his atlas is his constant companion.

Before the competition, fellow eighth-grade contestant Becky Smith claimed her seat next to the podium. She seemed to crave a little quiet before the start.

"I'm so excited ... and I'm really nervous," Becky said about being one of 10 of the school's 359 students to make the final round.